Bulgaria’s hacking ’Elves’ expose election fraud scheme

A group of hacktivists in Bulgaria has shaken up the national election race by publishing a list of more than 200 names of people it said are buying votes to boost a new party led by a sanctioned oligarch Delyan Peevski.

The list was published early October by the ethical hacking group called the BG Elves. It included names, political affiliations and titles of criminals, businessmen and local government officials who the hacking group said are engaged in buying votes through individual companies, racketeering and other election interference.

Opponents of Peevski passed the list on to the Interior Ministry, which said Friday it had received 408 notifications of election fraud involving vote buying. The ministry has deployed specialized police and security units to some municipalities to "ensure the political rights of citizens” in the past week.

On Sunday, Bulgaria will head toward its seventh national election in three years. The poorest member of the European Union by GDP per capita has been rocked by political instability since 2020, when nationwide protests erupted against oligarchic mafia leaders that had taken control of state institutions. It has led to massive discontent with voters; turnout is expected to be less than 32 percent and no party is expected to win a strong majority to govern.

The individuals named on the list published by the hacking group are believed to be working for the U.S. Magnitsky-sanctioned oligarch Peevski, who has come to epitomize Bulgaria’s captured state. His party, MRF-New Beginnings is a new player in this election and is polling at 7 percent.

The BG Elves rose to prominence earlier this year after releasing leaked emails showing Russian involvement in Bulgaria’s Turk Stream pipeline negotiations.

Publishing personal information to draw attention to individuals is a familiar method known as "doxxing" that hacking groups wield — and it is used both for activist and malicious purposes.

According to Petko Petkov, one of the Elves’ members, most of the names on the list are known to the police and have a criminal history that can be verified through public documents. But there are also individuals that were confirmed through independent investigative work, he told POLITICO.

Peevski’s MRF-New Beginnings party did not immediately respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.

Ivaylo Mirchev, a member of parliament from a political alliance called We Continue the Change and Democratic Bulgaria, which campaigns on an anti-corruption platform, submitted the hacking group’s list to the Ministry of Interior and national security services.

Security services deployed police teams to specific neighborhoods, including in the country’s capital Sofia over the past week. Five people were arrested on Thursday for violations of the electoral rights of citizens as well as other offenses, with police teams searching households, pawnshops and stores. 

Opponents of Peevski say is he is engaged in widespread voter fraud by dispatching confidants to neighborhoods and regions to pay voters to cast their ballots in his favor. Interior Minister Atanas Ilkov said this month that his ministry had knowledge of votes being bought for as much as €250 as well as sweeteners like firewood.

To some of Peevski’s opponents based in Brussels, Brussels officials should get tough on fighting the election fraud.

"It’s time that EU institutions take Bulgaria much more seriously," said Bulgarian Member of the European Parliament and Legal Affairs Committee Chair Ilhan Kyuchyuk — a lawmaker belonging to the MRF party that split in two when Peevski created his own offshoot called MRF-New Beginnings ahead of Sunday’s election.

The EU should consider sending election observers to member countries like Bulgaria, Kyuchyuk said.